Northwestern Mutual and NEWaukee challenged local businesses and organizations to teach 1,000 hours of code to students during Computer Science Awareness Week (December 3-9). Twenty companies responded to the call, hosting 71 events and teaching more than 4,700 hours of code to K-12 students throughout the Milwaukee region. This was the first time the local business, non-profit and education communities partnered to provide STEM learning opportunities at this scale.

"We were excited to see this city-wide effort involve people of all ages in Hour of Code," said Alice Steinglass, President of Code.org. "We hope this momentum will continue into 2019 and beyond and that Milwaukee can be a champion for computer science in Wisconsin."

More than 190 volunteers led Milwaukee Hour of Code events, which coincided with Code.org's global Hour of Code campaign. The initiative is part of Northwestern Mutual's commitment to advance Milwaukee as a national hub for technology, business and talent development.

"When companies and communities work side by side to support a larger purpose, good things happen," said Karl Gouverneur, vice president of digital workplace, corporate solutions and head of digital innovation at Northwestern Mutual. "To build a vibrant tech hub in Milwaukee, we're providing students with STEM learning opportunities so that they can be inspired and develop an interest in technology from an early age."

Computer science drives growth and innovation throughout the economy and society, but according to Code.org, only 40 percent of high schools nationwide teach computer science.

Wisconsin currently has nearly 8,000 open computing jobs, and more than 30,000 technology job openings in the Milwaukee seven county region are expected in the next five years due to retirement and changing careers alone. This number does not include new jobs projected to be created as digital transformation drives talent shifts in most industry sectors. To build the talent needed to be successful in the digital future, the Milwaukee region must establish a strong ecosystem that includes building classroom capacity for STEM education.

Participating companies and organizations included:

88Nine Radio Milwaukee

Advocate Aurora Health

Betty Brinn Children's Museum

Code.org

Discovery World

GE Healthcare

i.c. Stars Milwaukee

Islands of Brilliance

Marquette University

Milwaukee Electric Tool

Milwaukee Public Library

Milwaukee School of Engineering

Northwestern Mutual

Northwestern Mutual Data Science Institute

Rockwell Automation

Scanalytics

SHARP Literacy

SynerComm

SysLogic

UW-Milwaukee

To learn more about Northwestern Mutual's commitment to STEM, visit innovation.nm.com.